Not too shabby, but not nearly up to potential. We ran off a solid 7-straight, scoring an average of almost 112 a game. Then we laid an egg in the big apple during our quest for revenge on the Knicks loss from early in the season. But it's been clear to me that something is wrong with Tony Parker the last several games. I'm not sure whether he's just not seeing the open man, or whether guys just aren't getting open, but he's averaging 5 assists per game these last 5 games. More importantly his assist-to-turnover ratio the last three games is 14:15. (Source & math)&nbsp Ouch! Anyone know if he has a new girlfriend or something? Perhaps he lost a girlfriend?

Granted he's shooting the ball well (53.3%, last 5 games), and scored 30 last night in an OT loss in Memphis. He has also been hot from three-range, which is not really his niche (20 of 46 for 43.5% on the season - by far his best). He even went 3 for 3 and nailed the shot at the buzzer last night to send the game into OT:

Nevertheless it's not all on Tony, or any particular player. I have been posting on the Spurs' Facebook page for several games now that Pop has got to recognize when Tony is struggling to keep the offense running fluently. Patty Mills has got to get in the game!! He gives us such a tremendous spark, but we don't get that when he's merely waving his towel on the bench. Even Gary Neal's & a few other bench players' minutes are down, and I'm not sure why Pop isn't going a little deeper these days. Tony and Tim both played 40-ish minutes last night. Yes it was OT, but that's way more than their average minutes per game, and way more than necessary when you have a Patty Mills on the bench (and a DeJuan Blair getting basically NO playing time).

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

In response to all the recent crap I've seen on the news regarding citizens, who are worried that their guns will be taken away... And also to all you non-gun-owners in a position of power, please take a moment to read this. You'll be educated for the better.

When people see weapons like the AR-15, or the .223 Bushmaster, they call these assault weapons. Way, way too many of you don't know what the hell an assault weapon is. There is actually no definition of an assault weapon!

But OK, there are also assault rifles in existence. If you read that, you'll see that most "assault rifles" are fully automatic. They also cost many thousands of dollars.. Usually upwards of $10,000. These are the weapons you see during war, where there is a "rope" of rounds being fed in by another soldier.

Wait a minute. What's the difference between semi-automatic, and fully-automatic? Read that. Please.

ANY semi-automatic weapon will fire one (and only one) round with each squeeze of the trigger. However, most fully-automatic weapons will fire multiple rounds with one squeeze of the trigger. They will continue to fire until the trigger is released. These are machine guns, as most people think of what it means to be a "machine gun". Many people think the term "assault weapon" MEANS "machine gun". That couldn't be further from the truth.

Semi-automatic technology has been around for over a hundred years. This includes semi-automatic handguns. Any gun that can be fired repeatedly as fast as the shooter can squeeze the trigger is a semi-automatic. This includes revolvers! It also includes most shotguns. Most shotguns are either semi-automatic or pumps. The pump shotguns require the shooter to pump the prior shell out, the action also loads another shell, and it's very quick. It's not semi-automatic, but most pump shotguns can hold 7 shells, or at least 3-5. Semi-automatic shotguns can shoot 7 rounds as quickly as the trigger is pulled.

Anyone can take any semi-automatic rifle - or a hunting rifle - and change many various parts of the rifle, and make it look just like an AR-15, or.. what people think is an assault weapon:

I've already mentioned that semi-automatic technology has been around for over a hundred years. If all semi-automatic guns were banned in this country, all criminals would have an absolute advantage.

The point is this: If there were a semi-automatic weapons ban, we would be suddenly thwarted back to the late 1800s. In those times the only guns in existence were single-load weapons. So the answer to the gun violence of 2012 is to make only single-load guns available? Right. It will never happen. But if it did, all criminals would have a serious advantage.

The more important message is that everyone needs to understand the difference between a rapid-fire machine gun, and a semi-automatic weapon.

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